


I'm not going anywhere

by mainelycatharine



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Detroit: Evolution
Genre: (although it's like...one sip), Alcohol/Drinking, Angst, Choking, Detroit Awakening, Detroit Evolution, First Kiss, I AM LOSING IT, I FINALLY GET TO ADD THAT TAG AAAAHHHH, I just needed to write something based on a couple lines from the trailer today guys, I'll tag it anyway, M/M, Nightmares, Panic Attack, Self-Worth Issues, Sort Of, Swearing, Zombies, i think it looks neat, kind of? does an android coming back from the dead in a dream sequence count as a zombie, there is formatted texting in the second chapter please dont kill me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22794433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mainelycatharine/pseuds/mainelycatharine
Summary: “You don’t want tohelpme” he spat, relishing the small expression of surprise that flitted across Nines’ face.Finally, the fucker cracks.“You want tofixme."
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 88
Kudos: 495





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so.....how about that Detroit Evolution trailer huh.

Gavin Reed is a goddamn mess.

Normally, this statement would be par for the course for him — sometimes it feels as though he has to take at least 10 minutes every morning to let the shitstorm that is his life settle around him before he gets out of bed. This past week, however, has been a special case, and as he walked down the dimly lit street that would lead him to the most recent android murder scene, he let his shoulders sag. There were too many thoughts vying for attention in his head, and he stared hard at the ground as he forced himself to start sorting through them.

First and foremost, of course, needed to be the case. Crimes involving android deaths had been popping up almost every day over the last week or so, and manner of death led both him and his team to believe that they had some sort of twisted android serial killer on their hands. Some sick fuck who got off on brutalizing the androids before he killed them, ripping off limbs or tearing out organs before leaving them to bleed out into a system shutdown. Gavin had seen a lot of dark shit in his time as a Detroit cop, but no matter how hard he tried to keep himself at a distance from this one, the details of the case kept burrowing under his skin in a way he absolutely loathed. At that lovely mental image, Gavin’s arms started to physically itch, and he actually started to raise an arm to start scratching before he prevented himself from doing so.

God, he needed a fucking smoke. 

He stopped abruptly on the street next to a brick building and fumbled for the beat-up carton in his jacket pocket, yanking it out and stuffing a cigarette between his lips. He flicked on the plasma lighter a little more violently than necessary, but it got the thing lit, so he didn’t care. As he dropped the lighter back in his pocket and took a drag, a low voice piped up from behind him.

“Is this an appropriate time to be indulging in one of your vices, Detective Reed? I understand you have enough of them, but we _are_ on our way to a crime scene.” 

Gavin blew the smoke out of his lungs in a harsh breath and squeezed his eyes shut, turning towards the voice’s owner. Of course. Here was the source of the other half of his wild and unnerving thoughts: RK900 himself, standing as prim and proper as ever in his white knee-length jacket and black button-down, staring at Gavin with a slightly bemused expression and his hands clasped behind his back. Despite Gavin’s insistence that Nines be assigned to help another department while this case was active, or at the very least be put on desk duty while Gavin and the rest went out into the field, the bastard remained as affixed to Gavin’s side as that damn LED was to Nines’ temple. It was nauseating, and frustrating, and...a lot of other adjectives that Gavin didn’t really want to think about right now. 

As he turned and faced Nines fully, taking in the arched eyebrow and the quirked lips and the small wisp of hair that fell in front of his forehead, he felt his stomach clench. His mind was suddenly full of images from the past week’s investigation: gaping shoulder sockets where android joints used to be, blue blood splattered across cold pavement, dark LEDs and dilated, unseeing pupils and it could have been him, it could have been Nines lying cold and unmoving on the ground as Gavin stood over him, listening to the on-scene officer give a monotone report of what had happened because Gavin had been too slow to stop it, because he hadn’t gotten there in time, because he was useless when it came to protecting the people he—

Stop.

Gavin ripped the cigarette out of his mouth, shaking his head slightly to clear it. He had hoped the movement would be small enough that Nines wouldn’t notice, but being the fastest and most perceptive android ever designed by CyberLife had to have some perks. Nines’ expression shifted from teasing to concerned in a fraction of a second, and he moved slightly closer to Gavin. 

“Are you feeling alright, Gavin? I was only joking—“ 

Gavin waved the hand that wasn’t holding the cigarette in Nines’ direction, hoping to cut this conversation off at the first available opportunity. There were things he didn’t want to talk about, and then there were things he _couldn’t_ talk about, especially with his partner.

“Shut up Nines, I’m fine. Just needed to take the edge off before we go stare at android corpses for the next two hours.” Though his words were meant to deflect, they only succeeded in making Nines more worried, his brows dropping into a distressed furrow as he took another step forward.

“The agitation in your voice and your increased levels of perspiration would indicate that you are anything but fine, Gavin,” Nines responded evenly. Gavin sucked harder on the cigarette and shot Nines a dirty look.

“How many times do I have to tell you to quit scannin’ me, dickhead?” he growled, and Nines put his hands up in a calming gesture.

“As many times as it will take you to memorize my response: I don’t do it on purpose, it’s a natural part of how the processors in my eyes function.” Said eyes seemed to soften as Nines dropped his hands to his sides.

“But I don’t need to be an elite prototype android to know when you’re upset and trying to avoid a conversation. What’s wrong?” Gavin was ready with another snarky quip on the tip of his tongue, to continue their dance of banter that they’d had between them since they first started working together, but Nines’ follow-up stopped him cold.

“You know you can talk to me, right? If you’re feeling upset about this case, you don’t have to go through it alone.”

Gavin blanched, and it was all he could do not to give in to his immediate fight-or-flight response – running away or decking Nines in the face would not get him out of this conversational trap. The plastic bastard didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Gavin had always been alone and he always would be, didn’t Nines get that? But no, of course he didn’t, he’d only been walking and talking for a little over a year, what the fuck would he know about shit like this. Gavin slowly removed the cigarette from his mouth so he could grit his teeth.

“Fuck off with that bullshit, Nines,” he seethed, not making eye contact with the android. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” He watched the ashes from the cigarette fall, glowing and brilliant, to the sidewalk, where they snuffed out immediately upon contact with the ground. Gavin’s vision tunneled, and could see the ashes, the grungy sidewalk, and Nines’ perfectly shiny shoes, and that was it. He didn’t want to deal with any of this right now, not after the week he’d had, he _couldn’t_ —

“If that’s the case, then it’s because you refuse to tell me ‘what the hell’ is going on with you,” Nines shot back, and Gavin could _hear_ the air quotes mimicking his own words back at him, and that was it. He whipped his head up, met Nines’ gaze head-on, and stepped forward until he was right in the android’s face.

“Why do you care so goddamn much?” he hissed, thinking back to all of the other times before tonight where Nines had tried – unsuccessfully – to weasel personal information out of him in a similar fashion. “Why the fuck does it have to do with you? I’ve been dealing with this shit by myself since before the eggheads who made you glued your brain together – what the fuck do you know about any of it?”

Nines’ face became an impassive mask, and Gavin caught a sudden glimpse of the CyberLife model underneath Nines’ approachable exterior – there was RK900, the deviant hunter and killing machine, who will see a mission objective and do everything in his power to accomplish it. It made Gavin stumble back a step, but he recovered quickly, putting the cigarette back between his lips. Nines continued staring at him, and his next words were cold and clipped.

“For a man who doesn’t like to answer questions, Detective Reed, you certainly seem to enjoy asking them,” he said, and the shift from “Gavin” back to “Detective Reed” shouldn’t sting Gavin as much as it does. “You have issues that you’re clearly not addressing pertaining to this case. Is it that hard for you to believe that I might want to help you, that I consider you a friend?”

 _Just a friend, huh,_ Gavin’s brain helpfully supplied, and he wanted to scream. Even while they’re actively fighting, Gavin can’t turn off that part of how he feels about his partner. He blew out more smoke, the cigarette half-gone by this point, and laughed without humor.

“I’ve got no control over how you feel about me,” he replied, far more flippantly than he felt. “Consider me whatever the fuck you want. Just don’t expect me to get all buddy-buddy with you just because we’re tracking down a goddamn serial killer together.” Nines sighed in exasperation.

“I’m extending the metaphorical olive branch here, Detective.”

“And how’s that my problem?”

“It would help both our relationship as partners and our progress on this case immensely if you would take it.”

“Then how ‘bout I take it and shove it up your ass.” And with that, he blew the smoke from the last dregs of his cigarette directly into Nines’ face and flicked the stub to the ground.

Nines immediately closed his eyes against the smoke, taking a moment to process what Gavin had just done, his LED sputtering between yellow and red for several seconds before finally settling back on a weak blue. He opened his eyes and locked his gaze with Gavin’s, and Gavin knew that any man or android with lower emotional stakes in this conversation would be quaking in their goddamn boots right about now. Nines maintained his neutral expression as he moved forward again.

“Now,” he said firmly, forcing Gavin to step back again and again until the detective was almost flush with the brick wall behind him. “I’m going to ignore that absolutely childish act on your part and make myself clear: we’re doing this, and we’re doing it right now, before whatever we see at the crime scene makes you lose your grip on yourself for the rest of the night like the last four have.” Gavin blinked. Good god, had he been that obvious? Or was this another super-android thing?

“I understand that you’re facing personal issues, Detective,” Nines continued. “Even if I may not know what they are. But the solution to your solitude is entirely in your hands. I’m here to help you – what you don’t want to accept is that no matter how hard you try to push me away, I’m not going anywhere.” 

Gavin couldn’t take it anymore. He’d been leaning against the wall and staring at the ground as Nines spoke, but at that he pushed off the bricks and shoved his face right up into Nines’ personal space, despite their five-inch height difference that meant Nines towered over him. He was beyond done with this night, this case, and this _fucking android._

“You don’t want to _help_ me” he spat, relishing the small expression of surprise that flitted across Nines’ face. _Finally, the fucker cracks._ “You want to _fix_ me. I hear it every time you talk to me like this – you want to crack me open like I’m made of plastic, like I’m a goddamn machine, so you can take me apart and oil up the parts that don’t work right and put me back together again like nothing was ever wrong!” He was aware that he was shouting now, but he couldn’t stop himself. Nines’ eyes kept going wider and wider and Gavin just _couldn’t stop._

“Well, news flash, asshole! Plenty of people before you have tried, and they’ve all failed. I’m a fucked-up human being, flesh and blood through and through, and when my parts go to shit I can’t just run to the nearest car repair shop to get ‘em replaced! So _fuck_ you,” – he had to pause for a moment, remember how to breathe – “and stop pretending to care. I don’t give a shit about you, so _don't_ pretend you give one about me.” 

And then he felt another sentence slipping out of his mouth, one he wanted desperately to keep behind his teeth, but it was no use, his defense mechanisms were on high alert and giving him the ammunition to permanently drive away whoever was talking to him, whoever was trying to pry out information he didn’t want to give. 

Whoever was trying to get too close. 

“With any luck you’ll end up as one of these homicide cases and maybe I’ll finally get a little fucking peace and quiet.”

Utter silence fell over the street. Nines always avoided extraneous movements, but now his stillness fell into the category of unnatural, his mouth slightly agape, his eyes wider than Gavin had ever seen them before. There was a beat while Gavin’s brain caught up to what his mouth had just said, and by the time he realized what he’d done Nines was walking away from him back the way they had come, purposeful strides carrying him in the direction of the precinct. Gavin ran up to him, reached up a hand to grab his arm, to stop him from leaving.

“Wait, Nines, stop, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Nines whirled around and slapped his hand away, anger and hurt written clearly across a face that was originally designed to only produce neutral expressions at best. It made Gavin’s veins turn to ice, and for a moment they just stood on the sidewalk looking at each other, hardly breathing, while each figured out his next move. Gavin was trying to find the words to express how much he wished he could take back what he’d said, how much he didn’t mean it, but in the end it was Nines who broke the silence.

“I have work I can be doing at the station,” he said, so low that Gavin had to strain to hear him, “that will be of far greater benefit to this investigation than my providing you with accompaniment that you clearly have no need or desire for. I’m going back.”

Gavin thought he was going to be sick. _Please, no, not after everything, even if he doesn’t feel the same way, let us be friends, please, I’m begging you, don’t let me lose him too_ —

“Nines, I don’t want you too—”

“And why should I care about what you want,” Nines responded, “when I clearly don’t give a shit about you?”

Gavin’s mouth went dry. Nines stared him dead in the eye a moment longer, then he turned back around, and Gavin watched as the brilliant white of his coat faded into the darkness of the night until he couldn’t see it any longer.

Gavin didn’t know how long he stood there, but after what could have been a few minutes or a few days, he turned stiffly in the direction of the crime scene and resumed walking himself, replaying the entire train-crash of a conversation over and over in his head as he went.

He’d kept Nines at a distance because he didn’t want to fuck up what they had, because getting close meant getting hurt. Even if, deep down, he knew he would always want more. And now, thanks to what he had done, he didn’t have Nines as a friend or as anything else. He didn’t have Nines at all.

_Good god, what the fuck have I done?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cant believe ive written over 6000 words for a ship in a movie that hasn't even come out yet wheyyyyyyyy

Gavin spent the rest of his night in a hazy fog. He went to the scene, which was just as awful as he had pictured in his head, and went through the motions of talking to the on-duty officers and collecting evidence to be sent to the lab for further analysis. He did his job, but only through muscle memory, still trapped in his own head and replaying the horrible events from earlier in the night

There was only one point during his investigation where reality managed to break through his headspace. He was kneeling over the now-skinless body of the latest victim to examine the chest wound a bit closer, and as he leaned over the chassis, his eyes flicked up to the expressionless, unmoving face. Suddenly, the full memory of what he’d said to Nines only an hour before crashed over him like a dark wave.

_With any luck you’ll end up like one of these homicide cases_

_Maybe I’ll finally get a little fucking peace and quiet_

There was no running away from it this time. He’d said those words, those venomous, _hateful_ words, out loud to maybe the only other being in the world who _could_ understand what he was going through. The anger and fear that the android had expressed months ago in the small precinct kitchen may not have come up again in the investigation, but there was no way it had just disappeared. Nines was suffering just as much as Gavin was, and he mentally berated himself for not realizing it earlier.

Both of them were afraid of letting people get too close. Both of them were afraid of letting people get hurt _because of them._

Cursing under his breath, Gavin rose to his feet, spinning away from the body and stalking away to the mouth of the alleyway, where the rest of the officers were milling about. He muttered some flimsy excuse to one of them about having everything he needed, shoved his hands into his pockets and left back the way he had come without waiting for a response. Far from professional, but that had never been a word Gavin had often used to describe himself before, and in the moment he'd given even less of a shit than usual.

As he walked, a plan formed in his mind. It was weak at best, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night knowing that Nines was somewhere out in the city thinking Gavin wanted nothing to do with him – a fact that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

He bit his lip. If he didn’t do it now he would chicken out. Without another thought, he whipped out his phone and started typing. 

10:59pm [nines, do you have time to talk]  
11:05pm [nines]  
11:10pm [nines look I fucked up, I didnt mean any of the shit that i said]  
11:10pm [im not trying to make excuses but I dont want to leave it like we did]  
11:11pm [we’re partners for fuckssake, I shouldnt have said that to you]  
11:11pm [please let me make it up to you]

At this point he was nearing the bus stop that would take him back to his apartment, as well as starting to lose hope. Nines was a very perfunctory texter, always responding in under a minute if Gavin needed him, so the silence on the other end of the digital conversation he’d started was nothing short of deafening. 

He waited with his phone in his hand for a few more minutes, leaning against the bus stop bench – but still nothing. Just as he was about to give up hope and shove the phone back into his pocket, the screen buzzed with an incoming message, and Gavin felt his heart skip a beat. He quickly re-opened his texting app.

11:20pm [ **plastic prick:** I do not want to talk to you right now, Detective Reed. We can speak tomorrow when you come into the station.]

Gavin grimaced. It was a response, at least, but not at all the one he had hoped for. But, like it or not, it was exactly the one he deserved. He quickly typed out a reply.

11:20pm [we cant leave it like this all night nines]  
11:20pm [i wont be able to sleep]  
11:21pm [and i know u dont sleep but u shouldnt be up all night overworking ur processors about it either]  
11:21pm [especially because its my fault that any of this happened]  
11:22pm [we need to meet up before we go back to work tomorrow]

Another pause where Gavin almost went out of his mind waiting.

11:27pm [ **plastic prick:** If I were to believe, hypothetically, that you are being genuine – which I do not – what would you be proposing, exactly?]  
11:27pm [come over to my apt. just to talk]  
11:27pm [ive got a whole bottle of thirium, ill make u as many drinks as u want]  
11:28pm [i didnt mean anything i said but i was still a dick]  
11:29pm [and i just thought it might make u feel better to hear it from me in person]

Gavin’s phone didn’t buzz again until after the bus had stopped to pick him up. He was leaning against one of the dingy windows, trying to think of how else he was going to try to fix this if Nines refused his offer, when suddenly—

11:45pm [ **plastic prick:** Your suggestion is logical, and your reasoning behind it is correct. I will be at your apartment in exactly 21 minutes.]

Gavin stared at his phone and let out his breath in a loud rush. Fuck, it had actually worked. Step one of the plan was a fucking success.

So that just meant that step two was…

Step two…

Step two was to have Nines come over to his apartment past midnight, pour him a drink, and apologize while looking him directly in the eye.

Gavin froze. 

_God fucking dammit._

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Gavin was frantically trying to clean up the hovel that was his apartment as fast as he could, throwing week-old dirty clothes into his closet and slamming the door before running out to the kitchen to sweep away the crumbs from the toast he had made that morning.

He wasn’t trying to… _impress_ Nines or anything, okay, no amount of cleaning products or organization could make his shoebox of a home anywhere near impressive. But if Gavin was going to make it looked like he was actually invested in this apology, it would probably be more… _convincing_ if he did it while standing on a living room floor that didn’t have old socks and empty pizza boxes scattered in the corners.

He had just set out the bottle of thirium he had promised Nines – a gag gift from Tina at that year’s department Christmas party, one that Chris had had to yank out of Gavin’s grasp before he threw it right back in Tina’s face as she laughed hysterically – when he heard three sharp raps at his front door. He walked over to it quickly, but hesitated as he reached for the handle. A new memory floated to the surface of his mind, reminding him of a time where he had been this exact same position only a few weeks earlier.

_Good evening, Detective._

_What, did you hack my work computer to figure out where I live?_

_Ah, no, actually – Officer Chen told me._

_…Figures._

_I wanted to apologize for today. I…brought dinner. I don’t eat, but I figured it might be some sort of…peace offering._

_…Well, it sure as hell beats ramen._

He hadn’t even been calling Nines ‘Nines’ at that point, but it was the absolute sincerity of the gesture – bringing Gavin something Nines himself had absolutely no use for just because he thought it might make Gavin feel better – that had made him step aside and invite the android into his apartment. Now, however, their positions were reversed. Gavin was the one hesitantly reaching out, and all he could do was hope that Nines would take his hand.

He grasped the handle and opened the door.

Nines was still wearing the same clothes from earlier that night – white coat, black button down, well-maintained shoes – whereas Gavin had changed into a sleeveless hooded top and gym shorts the minute he’d gotten home. It made him feel unbalanced for a moment – oh jesus, if Nines ended up thinking Gavin wasn’t taking this seriously because he was in his fucking pajamas, Gavin was going to throw himself over his own balcony – but then he saw Nines take in his appearance and his otherwise stony expression shifted slightly. His mouth quirked up at the corner briefly, but not so briefly for Gavin to miss, before he settled his features back into an impassive mask.

Alright, he could work with that. He swallowed down the lump in his throat and coughed awkwardly.

“Hey, uh…hey, Nines.” The look the android leveled at him could have made plants wither.

“Detective Reed.”

Gavin gritted his teeth. Yeah, okay he deserved that one. He deserved a lot worse, actually, and he braced himself for what was sure to be a night with the main event being Nines ripping him a new one. Repeatedly.

They just stared at each other for a few seconds, neither wanting to make the first move, and the silence between them stretched. Finally, Gavin stepped back and jerkily angled his body to the side, gesturing towards the apartment’s interior.

“You, uh…you wanna come in?”

Nines hesitated a second more before inclining his head slightly in Gavin’s direction, stepping across the threshold and into the main living area. Gavin watched him walk past, a lump forming in his throat, and as he closed the door the finality of the lock _clicking_ into place made his palms start to sweat.

Right. Step two of the plan was officially happening. Fuck.

Gavin cleared his throat again. “I’ll, uh…I’ll go get you that drink I promised,” he muttered, disappearing into the nearby kitchenette. Almost immediately he realized the idiocy of his actions – leaving an angry Nines to his own devices in the middle of his apartment – but he’d deal with the consequences at a later point.

Right now, he busied himself with popping the cap off of the thirium container and pouring it into a glass, then he reached under the counter and pulled out a half-empty bottle of whiskey for himself. Normally this would be Anderson’s go-to for avoiding uncomfortable situations, but since the lieutenant had been trying his best to get sober during the weeks after the revolution, Gavin figured he was allowed to pick up some of the slack.

Drinks in hand, he walked back out into the living room, fully expecting Nines to have already finished disassembling his flatscreen or something. Instead, the sight that greeted him stopped him short at the edge of the living room carpet. Nines had removed his jacket and laid it carefully over the back of the nearby couch, and was now knelt on the ground in front of Princess, Gavin’s darkly-colored calico. The old girl had taken a shining to Nines the last time the android had come over, and seemed overjoyed to get to see her favorite robot friend again, rubbing up against Nines’ outstretched fingers and purring happily.

Gavin watched them for a moment, letting the scene sink into his mind, making room for it by pushing aside the awful images from the crime scene earlier in the night. The comfortable silence was broken when Nines turned and saw Gavin standing in the entryway, quickly withdrawing his hand and standing back up. Princess gave a small _mrrp_ at the loss, but seemed to sense the mounting tension and proceeded to make herself scarce.

 _Traitor,_ Gavin thought to himself as he watched her scamper away to the bedroom, no doubt to join his other two cats, leaving just him and Nines alone in the space. Gavin gave Nines a weak grin and offered him the glass of thick blue liquid.

“I can keep ‘em coming, if you want,” he said. “Bottle’s fresh, just popped it a minute ago.” Nines took the glass without meeting Gavin’s eye, gazing down into its contents and swirling them around slightly. Slowly, he sat down on the arm of the couch behind him, temporarily making him and Gavin more or less the same height.

“I must say I’m surprised,” he said in a neutral tone. “When you texted me, I thought you were being facetious about the thirium.” Gavin furrowed his brow.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, since I am one of the only androids you lower yourself to interact with on a daily basis, and seeing as you ‘don’t give a shit about me,’ I had no reason to believe that you would be the type of person to just keep a bottle of this in your apartment.” 

Gavin let out a short, harsh breath. Alright, so they were done pretending either of them were okay. He felt relieved and terrified all at once.

“Look, Nines, I—”

“I understand, Gavin,” Nines continued as if Gavin hadn’t even started speaking. Gavin blinked.

“You…what?”

“I said I understand. You’ve made your distain for me and my kind clear from our first meeting. We’ve had our…moments,” and here he looked down and to the left, clearly indicating towards the door behind him, the one that led out to the back terrace of Gavin’s apartment. Gavin’s eyes widened. _So Nines was thinking about that night too._ “but it was foolish of me to think that your attitude towards me had been changed permanently.”

Gavin felt his heart drop down to his toes. God, how had he allowed this to happen? What kind of fucked-up person said the things that had he said to anyone, let along their friends, made them feel the way he had made Nines feel? He had to fix this, _now._

“Nines, I don’t—”

“And while I want you to know that your comments towards me this evening were hurtful—”

“Will you just—”

“—I will not allow my personal feelings to interfere with the case—”

“You don’t need to—”

“—since there is a great deal at stake, for both humans and androids alike, and I—”

“Jesus Christ, Nines, would you just listen to me for one fucking second?! I’m trying to apologize!”

Now it was Nines’ turn to blink in surprise, and even after all this time it was still one of Gavin’s favorite reactions the android could produce; a thousand and one superhuman ways to kill a man crammed into this fucker’s head, but when he was caught off-guard he showed it in the most human way possible. 

“You…are?” 

Gavin nodded solemnly, setting his drink down on the nearest flat surface. Didn’t look like liquid courage was going to be helping him out tonight after all.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Yeah, I am.” Nines was still just staring at him. Gavin slipped his hands into the pockets of his shorts and maintained eye contact. He needed Nines to see how sincere he was about this.

“Look,” he started awkwardly. “I was…the absolute, goddamn worst to you when we met. No question about it. But that was months ago, Nines. Months of working alongside you, getting to know you, watching you figure out what it means to be deviant. To be your own person. And despite our rocky start, I…I’ve come to respect the hell out of you.” He moved a little closer to Nines, who was clutching the glass Gavin had given him earlier like it was the only thing still keeping him upright. Gavin pressed on.

“And tonight…I really dropped the ball on that. On you. No two ways, what I said was totally out of line. And of course I didn’t mean it, but…” He sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair and finally looking away. 

“Look, there’s a lot of shit I don’t talk to you about, or anybody, really. I’ve always…had a hard time opening up to people. That doesn’t excuse my shithead behavior from earlier tonight at all, and I know that, but it’s like…my brain is always in this constant ‘defense’ mode. When people start asking me questions, about how I’m doing, how I’m feeling, I always just try to get away or get _them_ to go away as quickly as possible. I’ve been this way for as long as I can remember.” 

_Stop, stop, what the hell are you doing, you’re telling him too much_ a treacherous voice started whispering in the back of his head, but he squashed it down with vehemence. No, he wasn’t going to run away. Not this time. He glanced back at Nines, whose grip on the glass had softened somewhat, but whose eyes were no less intently trained on him. Gavin steeled himself: this was it. The final push. He had to make it through to the end, had to say what had been on his mind since the beginning of the night.

“So I need to tell you I’m sorry,” he continued, although he could hear his voice start to shake somewhat. “For what I said, and for how I’ve been acting towards you. This case…it’s been getting to me. I know you said that you don’t see yourself in those ripped-up bodies when we go to crime scenes, but I…I do. I see you every time, Nines, and it scares the ever-loving _shit_ out of me. To think that one day you might just be dead, that’s it, no re-upload or resurrection or anything, and on top of that you would never know that I—” He cut himself off abruptly. Where the hell had _that_ come from. This was absolutely not the time or place for that conversation, and he mentally slapped himself for even thinking the words in the first place.

“…that I consider you a friend,” he went on haltingly, “one of the very few I’ve had in my life who have decided to stick around. When we had our first big argument, that time in the DPD kitchen, I told you that you didn't know the first thing about strength. Now I know I couldn't have been more wrong. This case has been affecting you just as much as me, and the fact of the matter is, I _do_ give a shit about you, Nines. As much as my stupid brain may be telling me not to. So I’ll say it again, because as my friend, you deserve to hear it as many times as you want: I’m sorry. I am so _damn_ sorry.”

Nines didn’t say anything for a long time, looking down at the space between their feet. Gavin fidgeted uncomfortably in the silence, but he didn’t dare break it. The ball was in Nines’ court now, and Gavin would let him do what he wanted with it. Finally, after a silence that Gavin was sure was going to end with one of them bolting out the front door, the android raised his head.

“I don’t…” he began, then stopped, shook his head, and started again. “I…have to say I wasn’t expecting that, Gavin. Any of it.” _Gavin._ He’d said Gavin. Not Detective Reed, or even just Reed. The man in question could have started crying in relief. Instead, he held his emotions in check as Nines kept speaking.

“When you invited me over here tonight, I truly thought it was just to tell me that you no longer wanted to work with me. I came here in that mindset, so I apologize that it’s taking me so long to form a coherent response. I’m having to readjust my entire projection of how I believed this night would go.” 

“Nines,” Gavin said in a pained voice. He lifted a reassuring hand to Nines’ shoulder without thinking, and both he and Nines started at the unexpected contact. However, not wanting to make it even more awkward by pulling away, Gavin went on with what he had planned to say without removing his hand.

“I’m not expecting an answer,” he said, “or forgiveness, or anything like that right away. Hell, you don’t have to say anything at all if you don’t want to. I can’t believe I made you think that, that I was going to tell you to fuck off for good after tonight, and I’m sorry again. You don’t owe me anything, alright? Not a thing.”

There was a beat, then Nines glanced down at the hand on his shoulder. But instead of shrugging away like Gavin thought he would, he let go of his glass with one hand and placed it overtop, not interlacing their fingers but just resting his palm on top of the back of Gavin’s hand. Gavin thought he might combust on the spot. Nines’ turned his gaze back to Gavin’s face.

“I appreciate you saying that, Gavin, but I know what I want to say to you.”

“You…you do?” Gavin rasped. Nines’ nodded slightly.

“Yes. While I won’t…excuse your words from earlier tonight, I have a better understanding of why you said them, thanks to what you’ve told me. What you’ve said, about being my friend…that’s all I’ve ever wanted you to know, Gavin. That I’m here, and that you can tell me things like this without feeling the need to lash out first. Of course, I’m not just here to be your punching bag or, god forbid, your personal therapist—” Gavin couldn’t keep himself from snorting in laughter at that remark, and Nines quirked his lips slightly in response.

“—but I am here to listen. A while back, you said…you said I needed to figure out what I wanted. And I didn’t want to be a hunter, or a killer.” Nines’ hand tightened on top of his, and Gavin reflexively squeezed Nines’ shoulder a little harder.

“I wanted to protect you. That’s all. That’s all it’s ever been, for me. The desire to keep others from hurting you…and to keep you from hurting yourself unnecessarily.” 

Gavin blinked, once, twice, three times. His mouth fell open slightly, and he felt rooted to the spot. A magnitude 7 earthquake could’ve hit Detroit at that moment and he wouldn’t have been able to move. He remained fixed on Nines’ face, and the completely open, honest expression that covered it. 

How. _How_ had someone like him gotten so fucking lucky. Here he was, a beat-down washed-up cop with a mouth that was constantly getting him into trouble and a self-deprecation streak a mile wide, and this android just waltzed into his life easy-as-you-please and declared that he had absolutely no intentions of leaving Gavin’s side. Even after all of this. 

He blinked once more. Then he let out a short, surprised huff.

“That’s…” he said, then laughed breathily and continued. “Nines, that’s…now I’m the one who doesn’t know what to say. I don’t want you to feel like I’m just saying this shit so you’ll forgive me and we’ll just move on like none of it ever happened—”

“That’s not at all what I’m thinking, Gavin,” Nines responded indignantly. “Unfortunately for you, my brain is a harddrive that is capable of recording and storing every audio and visual experience I have. What happened on the way to the case tonight will never simply disappear.” Gavin felt the color start to drain from his face, but Nines pressed on.

“However, that also means that I will never forget the fact that you reached out to correct your mistake before the night was over, nor will I ever forget your sincere apology on my behalf. You are trying to make amends for what you did, and you are doing so because you care for me – and that, I think, is what matters most to me in this case.”

Gavin couldn’t help himself – he let a small, relieved smile appear on his face, one which Nines echoed almost immediately. 

“Well, Nines, that’s…” he laughed a little again, despite himself. “That’s pretty fucking decent of you.” The android let go of Gavin’s hand and got up from the arm of the couch, so that they were now standing across from each other. His smile turned into his usual smirk, the one he conjured up every time he was getting ready to correct something Gavin had said, and Gavin finally felt something within him unclench.

“I believe you are correct, Gavin,” Nines said, and raised his still-full glass of thirium in the detective’s direction. “and I believe I would like to toast to that.”

Gavin reached for the whiskey on the low table next to him and raised it to meet Nines’, pausing just before the two tumblers met. He looked at the android across from him.

“To starting over?” he offered, and Nines gave a small chuckle.

“And to being decent,” Nines finished. Their glasses clinked. Both took long swigs of their respective drinks. Gavin finished his first, and eyed Nines over the rim.

“So does this mean I have to stop calling you ‘asshole’ now?” he asked. Nines finished his own drink and smirked again.

“Seeing as you typically use that term in place of words like ‘friend,’ I think you may continue using it. I would, however, appreciate it if you changed my contact name in your phone to something other than ‘plastic prick.’”

Gavin almost choked on the second swallow of his drink. _How the hell...?_ His eyes flew up to Nines' in shock, and the android was still just grinning at him, clearly trying not to laugh. Gavin wiped his mouth off with his hand and shook his head, smiling himself when he was sure Nines couldn't see.

Looks like they were going to be fine after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DE is five days away and this is STILL NOT DONE WHAT THE HELL anyway i'm so sorry to have kept people waiting. You get two chapters tonight, wheyyyyyyy!!! thank you to everyone in the discord who encouraged me tonight, I got so much done <3

Nines was down half a bottle of thirium and they were three-quarters of the way through the original _Blade Runner_ before Gavin realized how late it’d gotten.

After their initial toast, Gavin had awkwardly offered the rest of the bottle of blue blood and full use of the streaming services on his television to his guest, a peace offering that he hoped they both could appreciate. Nines had accepted his offer, and after some initial fussing over which platform to use – Nines kept insisting on using the digital library stored in his head, while Gavin countered by stating that Nines needed to experience Netflix in all of its retro 2010s glory – they finally settled on the 1983 cyberpunk film and hunkered down on Gavin’s couch to watch.

At first, everything went just as it had the last time: Nines kept reciting IMDb facts about certain scenes that he pulled from his mental search engine, and Gavin kept kicking him in the leg and telling him to shut up and appreciate the goddamn movie. As the night wore on, however, Gavin’s focus began to shift away from the screen and turn instead towards the android sitting on the couch beside him.

Nines was a handsome bastard, no fucking question about it. And he’d better be, for all of the millions of dollars CyberLife spent building him in the first place. In the darkness of Gavin’s living room, lit only by the soft glow of the TV, the shadows under his jawline made it look as though it were chiseled from marble. His well-kept dark hair fell in a little fringe over his forehead, and Gavin watched as his wide, intelligent eyes flickered back and forth across the screen in front of him, oblivious to Gavin’s stare, the pale blue light on his temple spinning lazily.

Gavin’s roaming gaze stopped on that light, taking in every pulse as it slowly twisted around and around. He felt his throat start to clench up. Only a few hours ago, he had spent his entire evening looking at similar lights on other androids, only all of theirs were dark – never to glow again, blue or otherwise. And Jesus, how quickly the mangled faces of those androids had morphed in his mind into the face of the android currently sitting next to him. 

Gavin’s hand curled into a fist in his lap. _God, if anything happened to him, what would I even do? And after tonight, fuck, if anything had happened tonight, after everything I said to him…if that was the last thing I said…if I never got the chance to tell him—_

And now the unbidden thoughts from earlier had returned with a vengeance. But since he was no longer in any form of emotional fight-or-flight mode, he cautiously allowed them to wash over him instead of pushing them away. Fuck, he was in _deep._

At first, about a month into their partnership, when Gavin realized that Nines cocking his eyebrow a certain way while they were fighting… _did_ things to him in that he had absolutely no intention of addressing, he tried to pass it off as a mere proximity issue. Sure, okay, he sometimes found his gaze lingering a little too long on Nines’ ridiculously long fingers as they hovered over his keyboard, but that happened with new partners all the time, right? Get a fresh, good-looking face into the department, start a new work relationship (however tumultuous it had been) – certain parts of you are going to be extremely interested in figuring out what this new person is all about.

But then one month had turned into two, and then three, and those “new partner” feelings hadn’t just faded away. In fact, the more Gavin got to know Nines, the deeper said feelings had started to grow, continuing to simmer just under the surface of Gavin’s shaky _everything’s fine, leave me the fuck alone_ veneer. The way Nines always seemed to just…know when Gavin needed pushing and when he needed space, and yeah, that might be due in part to the super-soldier android thing, but it was also because Nines actually _paid attention._ He actually gave a fuck about Gavin for reasons other than wanting to screw him over, or just wanting to screw him, and that was…a new feeling. Not unwelcome, at least not entirely, but…different. And _definitely_ uncomfortable.

Which was why Gavin had pushed back as hard as he did, and why they had ended up in that terrible situation earlier tonight. Nines wanted to help him, wanted to _protect him,_ a fact that Gavin couldn’t even begin to comprehend as the truth. So he had run. And he ran until he reached the edge, with Nines in hot pursuit, and then out of desperation he’d grabbed Nines by the shiny white lapels and nearly threw him off that edge to shut him up. 

_Never again,_ Gavin thought to himself. He wasn’t going to start magically stop having self-doubt or intrusive thoughts by any stretch, but he owed it to Nines to at least try to start putting in the same amount of effort that Nines was. Which meant more communication, and less…whatever the _hell_ that had been out on the street.

“Gavin? Is something the matter?”

Gavin started violently, jerked out of his internal monologue by Nines’ voice. He realized he was still staring at Nines, but now the android was staring back, one eyebrow raised slightly in confusion. Gavin blinked, then coughed awkwardly and looked away, trying to make it seem like he had been thinking about literally anything else.

“N-no, Nines, everything’s good. I was just—” 

In his desperation to find something else to look at besides the man next to him, Gavin’s eyes landed on the digital clock on the other side of the room, and now it was his turn to raise his eyebrows.

“Oh, holy shit, it’s nearly 3am,” he muttered in surprise, to which Nines made a _hmm?_ sound and turned to look himself. As he was turning, however, he stopped and chuckled slightly.

“I don’t know why I did that,” he said, “I have an internal processor that’s calibrated to whatever time zone I’m currently in. I always know what time it is.”

“Well then why didn’t you say something earlier, asshole?” Gavin groused, shifting so that his legs were no longer laying across the couch. “Public transport’s shut down for the night – er, morning, and there’s no way in hell you’re getting a cab at this hour.”

Nines cocked his head, not making eye contact.

“I suppose I was…distracted,” he murmured, and Gavin felt something in his chest flutter slightly. Nines shifted to glance at him, but then quickly looked away.

“…by the movie,” he continued, and Gavin mentally slapped himself. _Yeah, you were watching a movie together, idiot, remember? Stop reading into this shit before you say something you’ll regret._

There was a pregnant silence, during which neither of them looked at each other, then Gavin reached up to rub the back of his neck.

“So…” he started, “how the fuck were you planning on getting back to the precinct, then?” Nines’ head bolted upwards, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. For a second, Gavin was inwardly pleased that he – that the _movie_ – had distracted the great RK900 to the point where he had forgotten to check _his own internal clock_ for the proper time to leave, but then Nines was getting up from the couch and the pleasant feeling soured.

“Of course, my apologies, Detective,” Nines said hastily, turning away to grab his jacket from where it had been haphazardly tossed on the floor. “It’s late, and we’ve both had a long night. You need to get to bed, and I need to go—”

“Go where?” Gavin asked incredulously, standing up from the couch as well. “Weren’t you listening to me? Everything’s shut down, the only way you’re getting to the office right now is if you walk.”

Nines shrugged into his jacket, still keeping his back to Gavin.

“Then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“Not a _fucking_ chance, Nines.”

That finally got Nines to turn around, staring at Gavin with a surprised expression. Gavin, too, was a little surprised at himself – he hadn’t expected that sentence to come out with so much venom in it – but he pressed on.

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but there is currently an _android serial killer_ on the loose,” he continued, and he saw recognition begin to dawn in Nines’ eyes. “I don’t care how good you think you are in a fight, if you’re not getting in a vehicle of some kind there’s no way in _hell_ I’m letting you leave this apartment. Especially after—" 

As he had hoped would happen without him having to spell it out, Nines seemed to catch on to the underlying meaning of Gavin’s words. He quirked up the corner of his mouth in a slight smile.

“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, Gavin?” he asked. Gavin nodded jerkily.

“I figure giving you a place to crash is the least I can do,” he admitted, “after everything else that happened tonight.” Nines looked down at the floor, the smile still on his face, but now tinged with slight apprehension. 

“Of course, I appreciate the offer,” he said softly, rubbing one of the lapels of his coat between his forefinger and thumb. “But I don’t want to make you uncomfortable by overstaying my welcome. If you’re doing this because you think you still owe me—”

“Stop.” Gavin put up a hand to silence Nines, who glanced back up at him.  
“I’m not doing this to try make us even after our fight. I mean, I still feel shitty about what I said, but I’m not asking you to stay out of some misplaced sense of debt or whatever.” He moved closer to the android, reaching up to place a comforting hand on his shoulder like he had done earlier that night.

“I’m asking you to stay, as a friend, because I…care about you and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

If Gavin had had a therapist, he was sure they would have been jumping up and down in glee upon hearing him say that sentence out loud. Lacking a therapist, however, Gavin had to content himself with the way Nines’ entire body relaxed at his words, like the string pulling him taught had just been cut in half, and the way he nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

“Okay,” Nines said, smiling in earnest now. “Okay, I’ll stay.” Gavin couldn’t help the relieved breath that rushed out of him at Nines’ acceptance. The moment dragged out between them, and then Gavin reluctantly patted Nines on the shoulder and stepped away.

“…Alright, then,” he said, not really sure where to go from there. He glanced out into his apartment, then back at Nines, who was still looking at him expectantly. 

“So…I guess we can get you situated for the night, then?” Nines shook his head, shedding his coat once more and holding it delicately in his hands.

“No, that won’t be necessary, but thank you. I don’t sleep, so I’ll just stand in the corner of your room and enter stasis until you wake up.”

“Like hell you will.” 

Once again, Nines was regarding him with a deer-in-the-headlights sort of look, the kind that told Gavin he had no idea what the issue was. Gavin crossed his arms and glared at him.

“Nines, if I wake up and just see you standing in the corner of my room, glowing ominously, I’m going to have a fucking heart attack, alright? I know I am. Can’t you sit in a chair or something?” Nines shook his head again.

“Unfortunately, full stasis requires my body to be in a completely straight position,” he replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “so that all of my joints can realign themselves and my core processors can start from baseline for their assessment of my movements. I’m afraid it’s heart attack, or I stay awake all night.” Gavin rolled his eyes at the mirth he could hear in Nines’ last sentence, but before he could come up with a witty retort, Nines continued.

“Additionally,” he said, a little softer than before, “I, too, would like to remind you that there is a serial killer on the loose. Yes, we are indoors, and yes, he is only targeting androids, but…if you would be amenable, it would a great comfort to me if I could remain in the same room as you tonight.” 

Gavin almost winced. There the bastard went again, telling Gavin in not so many words that he cared about Gavin’s well-being. Well, shit. He couldn’t just say _no_ and make Nines stand out here in the dark all by himself. Asshole Gavin from earlier tonight would have, but Trying-To-Do-Better Gavin was in charge now. Looking up at Nines from under weary lids, he sighed.

“First of all, who the fuck says ‘amenable’ anymore, jackass?” he asked. “And second…you’re not taking no for an answer, are you.”

A smile slowly spread across Nines’ face until he was practically beaming. Quickly, he walked forward so that he was practically standing next to Gavin.

“First of all, _I_ say amenable” Nines shot back. “And you are correct in your second assumption. I would like to stand watch for you tonight, Gavin. Let the ‘plastic prick’ put his plastic to use in a way that will benefit us both.” 

“ _Wh-_!?” Gavin nearly choked on his tongue, but when he whipped his head up to meet Nines’ gaze head-on, the android only looked confused. Gavin clamped his mouth shut. Nines clearly had no idea what he’d just said, but unfortunately for Gavin, certain parts of his own anatomy had _definitely_ noticed. Gavin whirled around and buried his face in one hand.

“Jesus, fine, alright. You win.” He pointed a finger sharply at the slightly open door off of the living room, behind which he knew all three of his cats would be laying on top of his piles of dirty laundry. “Bedroom’s in there.” 

Nines looked over at where he was pointing and nodded.

“I’ll see you after you’re done getting ready for bed, then,” he said, and strode over to the door without hesitating. Gavin watched him go, still too mortified to say anything, and watched as Nines disappeared through the doorframe. He heard the android make various cooing noises at Gavin's cats, who in turn _mrrp_ ed back at him, and then:

“Gavin, do you actually own any clean clothes other than the ones you’re currently wearing?”

This was going to be one of the longest nights of Gavin’s life.

* * *

Gavin avoided going to sleep for as long as he could. Call him old-fashioned, but while his idea of a great night in typically _started_ with booze and a movie, it didn’t usually end with him walking into his room to see the object of his physical and emotional desires standing in the fucking corner, just looking at him. So he dragged out his nighttime routine, brushing his teeth for a full two minutes and even going so far as to dig around in his cabinets for an ancient container of floss.

But he knew he couldn’t stay in the bathroom forever, and so eventually he trudged back out into the living room and headed towards his fate. He paused when he reached the door, which Nines had now fully closed, and braced himself before pushing forwards. He was rapidly cycling through his list of excuses as to why he didn’t want to chat with Nines before he went to bed – every excuse, of course, except the truth: that chatting with Nines in the intimate space of his bedroom was a little too fucking nice and domestic for Gavin to handle right now. But when he entered the room, his words died on his tongue.

There was Nines, alright. He was already fucking asleep! Or, in stasis, or whatever. Cautiously, Gavin approached the now-still figure of Nines in the corner nearest the door, making sure to keep enough distance between them that he didn’t trip any of Nines’ silent assassin android alarms. Peering close, he gazed at the smooth, peaceful lines of Nines’ face and found himself smiling. _I wonder if he dreams about electric sheep,_ he thought to himself, amused at the notion of Nines dreaming of _anything_. He also saw that the light on Nines’ temple had now changed from blue to yellow – the processing color, as Nines had helpfully informed him once, despite Gavin never actually asking. So he was out for the night. Huh. Well, that made things a hell of a lot easier.

Gavin ignored the very tiny part of his brain that was actually _disappointed_ that Nines hadn’t stayed up to say goodnight to him, and instead walked back over to the light switch and clicked it off. Turning to his bed, he pushed the large lumps of clothing and the slightly smaller lumps of cat off the covers until he could burrow underneath. He cast one more lingering look at the figure in the corner, now silhouetted by the dregs of moonlight coming in through Gavin’s blinds, then flipped himself over and closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm going to drag this out until we're ALL blue in the face lads :))


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this was originally only going to be three chapters, end me. at least this one's short.

Gavin peered around the corner of the brick building, keeping close to the alley wall in case whoever was out there decided to pop up in front of him. When nobody appeared on the otherwise empty street for the next few seconds, Gavin deemed it safe to emerge from his hiding spot, and slowly began to move ahead through the shadows of the storefronts.

Where the hell was Nines? They had gone to the scene of the crime together, walking directly from the precinct, and now just as they might be about to catch this serial killing fuck, his “partner” up and makes himself invisible. 

_I’ll have to ask him if cloaking technology is a feature for the RK900 models,_ he thought to himself, chuckling despite the high-stress situation as he reached the next alley. Ducking inside, he leaned against the wall and caught his breath, not worn out from running so much as the tension. He had no idea what this person looked like, or even where they had gone. All he knew was that _something_ was hunting him, and that something was definitely not friendly.

 _Advanced prototype android backup would certainly come in handy right now,_ his inner monologue continued. Deciding that the open street probably wasn’t the best option for stealth, he turned to move down the alleyway, only to stop short when he saw a figure at the other end. 

It was Nines. Only, it wasn’t Nines. It was Nines in physical form, brown hair still flopping over his forehead, black t-shirt stretched across his chest. But his face held no expression save for a hunger in his eyes, and in the darkness of the alley at night Gavin could see the LED on his temple spinning an angry red. The terror that had been lying latent in Gavin’s stomach sprang up in full force. _This is him,_ it tried to tell him. _This is the killer, this is the one you’re running from._ But that was impossible. Nines couldn’t be the serial killer. He was _Nines._

“N-Nines?” Gavin called out hesitantly, trying to keep his voice low in case the real killer was close – because he had to be close, there was no way Nines was involved in this, _no way_ – but Nines didn’t answer. He stayed where he was, slightly obscured by the dark, looking at Gavin with that voracious gaze, and Gavin swallowed hard. He tried again.

“Nines, what…what the fuck are you doing? Stop freaking me out.” There was a pause, during which it seemed like all of the noise was sucked out of the alley. The silence was deafening. The sound that finally broke it was Nines’ first step as he began sprinting towards Gavin, still not saying a word.

 _I’m going to die in an alley in Detroit,_ was all Gavin could think.

But not all he could do. Years of police training had honed some of his more brutal instincts to a fine point, and the image of an android racing towards him with murderous intent in his eyes kicked Gavin’s muscle memory into high gear. Without hesitating, he dropped his hand to his holster, unhooked his service weapon, and raised it to fire directly into the android’s chest just as they were about to collide.

The android flew to the side of the alleyway and hit the wall with a crash, falling into a crumpled heap on the ground. Gavin fell back against the other wall, breathing hard, the grip on his gun shaking ever so slightly. That had been close. Another step, and that fucking deviant would’ve—

No.

Wait.

Not a deviant. Not just another android.

_Nines._

With a half-choked yell, Gavin fell to his knees next to Nines’ limp form, grabbing the side of his face to lift him into a sitting position against the wall. The bullet had gone clean through, and there was a large blue stain blooming on the front of Nines’ shirt and bleeding into his white jacket, and hey, when had Nines put the jacket back on? But that didn’t matter, _fuck,_ it didn’t matter because Nines was bleeding out against this fucking alley wall and it was _Gavin’s fault._

“Nines, _hey,_ ” Gavin cried hoarsely, reaching up to brush against the sputtering now-yellow light on Nines’ head. It was trying valiantly to keep spinning, but Gavin could see that it was slowing down rapidly. Cursing to himself, he looked around desperately.

 _“Somebody help me!”_ he screamed at the open mouth of the alleyway, though the sound seemed to come out strained and muffled. No response. He was about to scream again, when suddenly an icy cold hand grabbed his left wrist. His eyes flew back to the figure in front of him, and he almost began crying in relief when he saw that Nines’ eyes were open. His relief, however, was short lived.

“Gavin…why?” Nines rasped, voice becoming distorted as more thirium leaked away from his body. “Why did you…do that?”

Why _had_ he done it? He was trying to remember the events of just a few moments ago, but they were all jumbled in his head, twisting out of his grasp as he reached for them. He shook his head, trying to clear it.

“Because…” he started, then clenched his eyes shut. _Why can’t I remember?_

 _“Because…”_ he tried again. He was getting frustrated. And scared. Nines was bleeding out. Nines was going to die. Why couldn’t he remember anything? Why couldn’t he yell for help?

Where had Nines gotten that white fucking jacket?

“You could’ve…saved me,” Nines interrupted him, grip slowly going slack on Gavin’s arm. “It was…your job, and you…failed, Gavin…You…failed.” 

Nines’ hand dropped to the ground. The LED went dark. Gavin couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. The man he had fallen in love with was dead on the ground, and he was the one who had pulled the fucking trigger. Slowly, in shock, Gavin lowered himself to sit on the ground, putting his head between his knees and clutching his hands in his hair. 

Silence descended over the alleyway again.

“Gavin, you _FAILED!_ ” 

Gavin was thrown onto his back by Nines’ corpse as it howled and wrenched itself away from the wall, milky white eyes boring into Gavin's own and chest still gushing thirium as it pinned Gavin to the ground. One inhumanly strong hand grasped his wrist again and slammed it into the unforgiving concrete, and the other wrapped itself around Gavin’s throat.

And began to squeeze. 

“You _failed,_ Gavin!”

Gavin tried to move, to say something, but he couldn’t do anything under Nines’ weight.

“You _failed,_ Gavin!”

Air was no longer an option. The edges of his vision were going black. _I’m going to die in an alley in Detroit._

“You _failed,_ Gavin!”

“You _failed,_ Gavin!”

“…avin.”

“Gavin.”

“ _Gavin!_ ”

Gavin woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the tourist's guide for how to recognize leo's writing:  
> 1.) _italics_ for _EMPHASIS_ and _THINKING_  
>  2.) Too...many...fucking...ellipses  
> 3.) someone is having a dream sequence


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT IS COMPLEEEEEEEEEEEETE!!!!!! WITH NINE HOURS UNTIL THE PREMIERE!!!!!!!! IM GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Gavin opened his eyes, Nines was still looming over him and pinning him down, and the panic in his chest flared up anew. Continuing to act on instinct, he reached up with his somehow now-free hand and grabbed Nines’ shoulder, trying desperately to throw the android off so he could escape. After a moment of flailing uselessly, however, words began to filter through the fog of sleep and terror that was clouding his brain.

“Gavin, please, calm down! You were dreaming, don’t – _Gavin!_ ” That voice belonged to Nines, it had to, but unlike the distorted, hellish version that had been ringing in his ears only moments ago, this sound rang out clear and strong, and the difference was enough to shock Gavin into ceasing his frenzied movements. Panting, he seized the sleeve of Nines’ black t-shirt in a death grip and finally shook off the last remnants of his nightmare.

There was Nines, the _real_ Nines, sitting on Gavin's side of the bed and holding him with both hands, as if he were afraid that if he let go, the detective would simply disintegrate in front of him. His expression was one of both confusion and fear, and as Gavin drank in the sight of him – fully not injured and not covered in thirium – he also watched as Nines' eyes searched his face and hovered over his chest frantically. Checking his vital signs, no doubt. 

“Gavin,” Nines said, in a voice that was surprisingly level given the circumstances. “I need you to listen to me. You are not in danger. You were dreaming. You are at your house, in your own bed. It is currently 4:46 in the morning. Now please, try breathe as slowly as possible.”

Only about half of the words stuck in Gavin’s brain, but he was able to grasp the gist of it. Calm down. Breath slow. Still clutching Nines’ arm, he tried to even out his panting to something more manageable, focusing on a point on Nines’ chest and trying to ground himself in reality. Nines wasn’t dead, or attempting to kill him. They were both in his apartment. They were both going to be okay.

Or at least, in Gavin’s case, as okay as he could be after dreaming about his partner coming back from the dead and trying to choke him to death.

_Fuck._

When he felt able to, Gavin gingerly drew himself into a sitting position against the headboard, using Nines’ sleeve as a crutch. When Nines reached out his other hand to help, Gavin unconsciously flinched away, but before he could rectify his mistake and apologize, Nines withdrew his hand and gazed at him with understanding. When Gavin was fully settled, he closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall behind him, trying to gather the mental energy he was going to need for the conversation he was about to have. 

Night terrors were nothing new for him, and normally at this point he would have given up on the bedroom altogether and just headed out into the living room to watch shopping programs until it was time to get ready for work. But this time he had a fucking audience, didn’t he, and from the look on Nines' face, it didn’t look like Gavin was going to be allowed to access the kinds of coping methods he was used to. So instead of stumbling out of bed to go flip on the television, instead he gritted his teeth and decided to just get it the hell over with.

“What—” he began, then paused and winced at the gravelly texture of his voice. He cleared his throat and tried again. “What happened?”

“You were calling out my name in your sleep,” Nines said softly. Gavin felt every single muscle in his body freeze. His eyes flew open and he stared at Nines.

“I was…what?”

“You were saying my name while you slept, Gavin,” Nines said again. “That, combined with the high levels of stress in your voice, caused one of my internal alarms to trigger and pulled me out of stasis. When I opened my eyes, I saw you thrashing around on the bed in obvious distress, so I came over and did my best to wake you. But when I did, you…” he trailed off, then broke away from Gavin’s gaze to stare at the blankets. 

Gavin, meanwhile, was slightly amazed that he hadn’t yet withered up and died on the spot. Jesus fucking Christ, he’d been yelling for Nines in his _sleep_? How many times was he going to fuck up in front of this guy in the span of 24 hours? He’d known it was a mistake, relenting so quickly to Nines asking to stay in his room for the night. He should’ve put his fucking foot down. But he hadn’t, had he? He’d let Nines waltz right past him, and now here he was having a fucking panic attack in front of the man after dreaming about shooting him and – apparently – calling out his name while he was unconscious. 

Gavin looked away as well, and braced himself for the barrage of questions he knew was coming. What had he been dreaming about? Did this happen often? Was it alright if Nines went out into the living room now, so he wouldn’t get woken up by Gavin screaming again? He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself to answer, because he owed it to Nines to answer, alright, he owed him that much. No matter how uncomfortable it would make him. The silence was almost painful, and just when Gavin’s nerves were frayed enough that he was about to break it himself, Nines spoke.

“Gavin, are you…alright?”

Gavin was sure he had misheard. That…was not one of the questions he had been ready for. Cautiously, he looked back over at Nines, but where he expected to see discomfort or curiosity in Nines’ expression, he instead saw only a sincere desire to know – was Gavin alright? And Gavin…didn’t really know what to do with that. So, just like it had happened with every other time Nines had tried to get under his skin, Gavin felt his defense mechanisms slowly beginning to slip back into place. He felt the words begin to form in his mouth, the _I’m fine, fuck off_ forming on the tip of his tongue, but just as he was about to open his mouth and send them both right back to square one, he stopped himself.

Blinked.

Took a breath.

_Not again._

_Not fucking again._

_I’m done._

“…No,” he whispered, almost inaudible, but when he saw Nines’ eyes widen, he forced himself to continue.

“Nines, I, uh…no, I don’t think I’m alright.”

He could feel himself shaking with the effort of getting the words out. If snapping himself out of the dream had felt like a sprint, this was a goddamn marathon. He was completely out of his depth. But then:

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nines asked. _What?_ Did he want to talk about it? He had no clue. He thought about it, grasping the blanket in both fists as hard as he could. After a moment, he shook his head. _No._ Nines nodded.

“Do you want me to leave?” This one was easier. Gavin shook his head again, and Nines relaxed somewhat on the bed, as if he had been poised on the edge, ready to spring away at Gavin’s command. Unnecessary, but immensely comforting to know – Nines had been willing to leave, to drop the issue entirely, if that had been what Gavin had truly wanted.

“Can I…can I sit next to you, Gavin?” Physical closeness had never been an option for Gavin before, in these types of situations. But whether it was due to the leftover shock of waking up so abruptly, or him just being tired of trying so hard to push Nines away, he found himself nodding.

“Yeah, that’s…yeah,” he said in a low voice. "You can." Nines looked surprised, but the expression quickly melted into a small smile. Slowly, as if he was afraid he’d spook Gavin like a deer if he moved too fast, he got up from next to Gavin’s legs and moved around to the other side of the bed, positioning himself so that he was sitting against the headboard as well. His shoulder was pressed against Gavin’s own, and Gavin closed his eyes and let out a long breath at the contact. He kept them closed as Nines spoke again.

“We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to,” Nines said. “But I am here to listen, if you wish to speak. In the meantime…you should try to go back to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us, and it starts in two hours and forty-five minutes.” Despite the current situation, Gavin chuckled slightly.

“Thanks for the update, Nines,” he muttered. The humor leeched out of his voice as he continued. “But I don’t, ah, think I’m going to have much luck with that.” 

“I know,” Nines replied. “That's why I merely suggested that you try.”

Neither of them spoke again. They sat there, pressed together along their sides, staring into the darkness of Gavin’s bedroom as the minutes ticked past. Then, without realizing, Gavin felt his body slowly begin to give in to the exhaustion that was creeping through his limbs, and he found himself leaning further and further towards Nines until suddenly his head was on Nines’ shoulder. 

He knew he should move, knew that the last thing Nines probably wanted right now was for Gavin to encroach even further into his personal space. But Nines was solid and uncomplaining next to him, and it had been so long since Gavin had allowed himself to do anything like this, and so he convinced himself to stay exactly where he was. Eventually he even managed to relax. Eventually, he even managed to let his eyes drift shut.

And then, just as he felt Nines lean over and rest his own temple on top of Gavin’s head, he managed to let sleep take him once more. This time, without any dreams at all.

* * *

The second time Gavin woke up, it was to the sensation of someone tenderly shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes slowly. The early morning sun was glowing softly through the blinds on his bedroom window, and as he blinked groggily in the light, he felt someone touching his shoulder once more.

“It’s 7:45, Gavin. Time to get up.” Wearily, Gavin angled himself so that he could glare out of the corner of his eye at the voice’s owner. While Gavin was sure he looked like he had spent last night going a few rounds with a semi-truck and losing, Nines looked as impeccable as always, sitting on the empty side of the bed and smiling as he pulled his hand back from Gavin’s shoulder. Gavin found his glare softening as he took in the normalcy that the android provided with his presence alone. 

Of course, there was absolutely nothing normal about the current situation – Gavin wasn’t prone to being sweetly awoken in the morning by people he had fallen in love with – but after last night, seeing Nines standing on his own without any sort of bullet wounds on his person made Gavin feel relieved. There was, however, no avoiding the elephant in the room, and as Gavin rolled back over to get up off his side of the bed, he found himself replaying the events of a few hours ago over in his mind.

He’d had one of his worst nightmares in months – check. He screamed Nines’ name in his sleep and had eventually woken the android up, prompting him to come to Gavin’s aid – check. 

He’d fallen asleep on Nines’ shoulder – double fucking check. 

He rose from the mattress and walked around the foot of the bed at a glacial pace, not making eye contact with the man in his bed. And wasn’t that a sentence to be able to think to himself, huh? _I slept with Nines. I woke up in the same bed as Nines._ And it had been nice, in the moment, playing at that fantasy when Nines had asked to sit next to him and he’d said yes. But now the sun was up, and they had work to do and lives to live, and Gavin had to make a fucking decision.

He wanted Nines in his life. Permanently. That much was clear. What wasn’t clear was whether or not Nines wanted the same thing, and whether Gavin was going to risk their friendship and everything they had tentatively built up since yesterday just to see if they could be something more. He’d been thinking about this choice since Nines had settled down next to him in the wee hours of the morning, and he was still agonizing over it now as he moved through his bedroom.

At that point he’d reached Nines’ side, and Nines had swung his legs over the side of the bed and was sitting in front of him, looking up at him with a half-smile on his face. Gavin glanced up at him briefly and offered a nervous smile of his own, but quickly looked back down at the ground.

“Nines, uh…” he began, then changed his mind. “So, about last night…”

“Like I said, Gavin,” Nines interrupted him gently, “You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.”

“I do, though,” Gavin answered quickly. “I mean, I don’t…want to, really. I don’t want to talk about this. But I want you to hear it. And then I think…I want you to hear some other things. But we’ll get to that, uh. In a minute.” 

Nines just continued to look at him, the picture of patience. Gavin had never wanted to kiss someone so bad in his entire fucking life.

“Last night,” he went on, “I was dreaming of you. Fucking obvious, I know. But the dream…it was more of a nightmare, actually, and it was a pretty goddamn shitty one. We were…working the serial killer case, but it was dark and we got separated on some random street. And then I found you, but you weren’t you, you were just…you went insane or something. And you…tried to kill me.”

Nines started at this, and moved as if to say something, to start apologizing, but Gavin held up a hand.

“Let me finish,” he said firmly. Nines shut his mouth.

“You tried to kill me, so I…I had to kill you. I _shot_ you, Nines. After all that talk the other night about not wanting to lose you because of this case, I was the one who had to put you down. And just when I thought I was going to fucking lose it, you…came back to life, and tried to kill me again. I couldn’t stop you. I think…after a few seconds, maybe I didn’t _want_ to stop you.”

Gavin finally raised his gaze up from the floor. Nines was practically on the edge of the bed, hands white-knuckled on his pants, distress etched into every line of his face. It took every bit of Gavin’s not-inconsiderable willpower to keep going.

“So before I say anything else, I needed you to know…all of that. We’re partners, yeah, and we know a lot about each other, even more so after yesterday. But I also have… _this_. These nightmares. And I’m still trying to figure out how I’m dealing with them. But then last night…”

He shuffled closer to Nines.

“Last night, you were here. You were here, and you didn’t try to _fix_ me, but you still made it…better. Just by being here, by being _you,_ you made it better. So…this is my really long-winded way of saying thanks. Again. For sticking around when you really had no reason to.”

Nines’ grip on his pants had relaxed somewhat, and the stress had finally eased from his face. He was looking at Gavin like he was some sort of wonder, and Gavin shifted uncomfortably at the rapt attention.

“Even after all these months,” Nines said softly, “you still manage to surprise me, Gavin Reed.” Gavin tilted his head slightly in confusion, but Nines just shook his head slightly.

“You are one of the most complex, infuriating, fascinating human beings I have ever met. Of course, your thanks are appreciated. But also completely unnecessary. We’ll have our differences as we move forward – yesterday is proof of that – but I want you to know that whenever you need me to be here, I will. And I would like to think that I could ask the same of you, should the need arise.”

“Of course,” Gavin responded instantly. “Of course, Nines. Just say the word, and I’m there.” Nines’ grin grew wider.

“Then I believe it’s my turn to say thank you,” he replied, standing up from the bed, “for telling me all of this. I know it's not easy for you, but I truly appreciate the effort you’re making to maintain our friendship.”

_Now or never. It’s now or never, Gavin Reed._

_What are you going to do?_

“Nines,” Gavin heard himself saying, though it felt as though he were watching someone else speak, standing next to his own body as he watched his mouth form the words.

“I think…I think I might care about you as more than that. Than a friend, I mean. Obviously, you’re my friend, despite…evidence to the contrary. But I…I’d like to be more. Than just friends. As in…I’ve thought of you as more than a friend for a while. And I wanted to see if there’s any way you might eventually…think of us that way too.”

Nines blinked, then blinked again. Opened his mouth as if to say something, then shut it. Stared at Gavin for what felt like an eternity

“…Oh.”

It was barely even a word, and it still made Gavin’s heart feel like it had been ground to dust under Nines’ shoe. He felt his face begin to fall, so he squeezed his eyes shut and whipped around, turning his back to Nines. Well. He tried, didn’t he. He shot his _fucking_ shot. And now all that was left was to try and pick up the pieces, and hope Nines still wanted to keep working alongside him despite witnessing the goddamn fool he’d just made of himself.

“Alright,” he gritted out. “That...yeah, that’s about what I expected. I didn’t…” He sighed, almost a laugh but not quite, he didn’t have enough energy for that, he was so goddamn tired. He tried again.

“Look, I…I shouldn’t have said anything. Me and my big fucking mouth – _again,_ Jesus. I’m sorry if I made you…” He rubbed a hand over his face, suddenly feeling a heavy weight begin to settle into his bones. _This is what you get._ “Look, you can just go. Don’t worry about it, it’s…whatever.”

There was a shuffling noise from behind him, the sound of Nines’ feet on the carpet.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Gavin.” Nines’ voice was soft, warm, wrapping around Gavin like a blanket, and all he wanted to do was turn around and bury himself in Nines’ chest and not _think_ about anything for a few fucking years. Instead, he forced himself to stay rooted to the spot, because he knew if he turned around, he was going to be finished.

“And why the fuck not?” he muttered, the exhaustion creeping into his tone. Suddenly, Nines’ hand was on his shoulder, and his entire body locked in place.

“Do they have some sort of mandatory training class on jumping to conclusions at the DPD?” Nines asked. 

Gavin’s brow furrowed, and he tilted his face slightly back towards Nines, not looking at him but showing that he was listening. What in the fuck did that mean? Then Nines’ voice came again, just as gentle as before.

“I can’t leave,” he continued, growing more confident, “because if I did, I would have to wait until the next time we saw each other to tell you I feel the same way about you. And who knows how long that would be?”

The words didn’t process for Gavin for a few moments. Then they hit him over the head like a runaway perp swinging a two-by-four at him while resisting arrest. He was pretty sure he stopped breathing for several seconds, and by the time he finally remembered how, Nines was already using the hand on his shoulder to guide him until they were both facing each other.

Gavin allowed himself to be turned, slowly, haltingly, keeping his gaze firmly affixed to the floor. _There’s no way,_ that voice in his head kept saying over and over. _There’s no way, he doesn’t mean that, he’s talking about something else, there’s no way, there’s no fucking way –_

Then Nine’s hand was off his shoulder and coming up under his chin, tilting Gavin’s head up so that their eyes finally, finally met. Gavin stared up into those pale blue irises and swallowed hard, all while Nines beamed down at him, eyes crinkling at the corners, his expression completely open and devoid of any sort of mockery or derision, no matter how hard Gavin strained to find it.

_It’s not possible. Not possible. He can’t, he doesn’t, he…_

_he..._

_He does._

_Jesus fucking Christ. He does._

The rush of giddy relief that washed over Gavin would have made a lesser man’s knees give out. But with a slightly trembling hand, he reached up and took the hand that Nines had rested under his chin, grasping his fingers tightly and lowering both of their arms down beside their bodies.

“You…” Gavin began, then stopped. He let out a short, breathy chuckle, and finally managed to give Nines a tentative grin.

“Nines, if you mean that—”

“I do,” Nines responded, tightening his grip on Gavin’s hand. “I…I’m obviously not exactly… _familiar_ with these emotions I have towards you, but I know that they’re…they’re at least equivalent to what you just described, when you were explaining your feelings for me.”

Gavin looked down at their intertwined fingers, then looked back up at Nines.

“Then…” he said, choosing each of his words carefully and deliberately. _Do not fuck this up, do not fuck this up._ “…then I think I’m going to kiss you now, if that’s alright.”

Nines looked startled, and for a moment Gavin thought he’d stepped in it, pushed things too far too fast. But then Nines was smiling again, and leaning down towards him, murmuring in a low voice that resonated through Gavin’s ribcage:

“Oh, I think I would be… _amenable_ to that proposition.”

When Nines’ lips met his, every nerve in Gavin’s body lit up at once. He didn’t even realize he had lifted his free hand up to cradle Nines’ jaw until he felt smooth, synthetic skin under his palm. The feeling of rubbing his thumb over Nines’ cheek, the pressure of Nines’ mouth against his own, Nines’ body pressed against him, felt like taking an ice bath and being set on fire all at once. Then he felt Nines’ tongue push hesitantly against his upper lip, a question, and Gavin opened his mouth without thinking to provide him with an enthusiastic answer.

Gavin was no virgin, alright, not by a fucking long shot, but _this_ – kissing someone he had been pining over for months, the paralyzing fear of heartbreak and rejection melting away with every press of their lips and with every sweep of his tongue inside Nines’ mouth. He was allowing himself to be emotionally exposed, and the world was in fact not ending. What a novel thing that was.

When Gavin finally pulled away, he still refused to let go of Nines, cupping his jaw and grasping his hand like they were the only two points in the universe capable of grounding him. And hey, who the hell knew – at that moment, maybe they fucking were. He felt slightly lightheaded with adrenaline and arousal, sucking in oxygen at an embarrassing rate as he pressed his forehead against Nines’ and met the android’s heavy-lidded gaze with his own. Neither of them spoke for several seconds, the only sounds in the room Gavin’s panting and the slight rustling of their clothes. And then—

“Well,” Nines breathed softly, unaffected by the lack of oxygen that resulted from their…activities, but still sounding out of breath. “That was… _hah._ ”

Gavin let out a quick laugh, chest still tight.

“Yeah,” he sighed, a satisfied smirk finding its way onto his face. “ _Hah._ Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

They stayed like that for a few moments more, drinking in the feeling of _rightness_ that came from being in such close proximity to each other. But then Nines was pulling away, still holding onto Gavin but looking at him with slight apprehension.

“Of course,” he started in a somewhat strained tone, “there are certain things that I cannot…I have no doubts about my feelings towards you, Gavin, but there are some things that I don’t…by design, I am not capable of—”

“Nines,” Gavin said firmly, effectively shutting the other man up. He reached forward to draw Nines in again, this time pulling him into a full body hug, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck and resting his face in Nines’ neck. Nines responded in kind while Gavin continued.

“I’m not expecting you to change, or do anything you’re not uncomfortable with, now that…all of this is out in the open, alright? It’s new. Neither of us has any idea what the fuck they’re doing. We’ll figure it out.” He drew back, making sure Nines was looking him directly in the eye.

“Together.”

* * *

The rest of the morning passed by in a blur. Of course, a serial killer wasn’t going to put their work on hold just because Gavin and Nines had finally decided to stop being idiots around each other. After a few more minutes of just kissing and holding each other, Nines helpfully reminded Gavin that they had a bus to catch in about 10 minutes, to which Gavin began swearing and tearing through his room looking for a clean shirt to throw on.

Six minutes later, changed and somewhat groomed, Gavin stood next to the door, searching the bowl on the nearby table for his house keys. He heard Nines come up behind him, and expected him to make some sort of witty remark about Gavin still using physical locks instead of digital, to which Gavin was going to have a fantastic retort about where exactly he was going to shove his physical keys. When Nines didn’t say anything, Gavin frowned and turned to look at him, and was surprised to see that Nines was wearing a similar frown.

“Nines?” Gavin asked, to which Nines jumped slightly and looked at him, startled out of his thoughts. 

“You alright?” Nines was clearly hesitant to say whatever was on his mind, but Gavin just raised his brow and gave him a pointed look, and Nines relented.

“You don’t…regret it, then?” he asked carefully, and Gavin almost started laughing. Instead, he reached over and grabbed Nines’ hand, pulling him closer until he had Nines pressed up against the door. Not trapping him, but making sure he was listening to everything Gavin had to say.

“Nines No-Last-Name-As-Of-Yet,” he said in a tone that left no room for doubt of any kind, “you are literally one of the few things on this hellish planet that is keeping me anywhere close to sane. Kissing you? One of the few things in my life that I _don’t_ regret.” Nines sagged against him slightly, and he nodded in relief, even laughing a little to himself at Gavin’s choice of words.

“I suppose it would take an extraordinary amount of effort on my part,” he admitted, gazing down at Gavin fondly, “seeing as it took us over three months to get to this point, for me to drive you away now that we’ve finally…gotten everything out in the open.” Gavin’s face grew somewhat more serious, and he leaned forward to touch his forehead to Nines’ once more.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy,” he said softly. “But you’re right. We’ve gotten this fucking far. We’re going to do our fucking best. And whatever happens, I promise you–” he leaned back, plucked his keys out of the bowl, and turned to grin at Nines.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Nines blinked, then started laughing in earnest, opening the door and walking out into the hallway.  
“Remember what I said the other night about having perfect recall, Detective?” he called over his shoulder. “If you’re going to start quoting my own words back to me, I do wish you’d choose something a little less…cheesy.”

“If you can’t handle cheesy, Nines, then there’s a difficult conversation we need to have.”

The door closed and locked behind them with a firm _click._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to anyone still reading this, i love you to the moon and fucking back. This was so satisfying to write, and i cant believe it's over. thank you to everyone in the discord for encouraging me, to michelle and the octopunks for creating this fandom in the first place, and everybody who has left or ever will leave comments and kudos. now GOODNIGHT!!!!!!!


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